Balance of payments and international investment position compilation principles have been outlined in the 6th edition of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). The main objective of BPM6 is ensuring international comparability of data across balance of payments and international investment position.

The BPM6 has been revised in parallel with the update of System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008) and European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA2010). The OECD4 Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment Manual has also been revised. The aforementioned regulations employ unified definitions, classifications and conventions with the view to ensure consistency and comparability of balance of payments statistics and system of national accounts data.

Furthermore, methodological adjustments and additional positions in assets and liabilities have been introduced to further comparability with the system of national accounts. Therefore the data for the last year and the previous years are not directly comparable.

The pool of foreign investors in Poland (data by the Central Statistical Office)

According to the Central Statistical Office research, the pool of entities with foreign capital amounted to 26 464 firms. In 2014 there were 1 369 entities with foreign capital created vs. 1 489 in the previous year.

Among new firms created in 2014 there were 1 104 new greenfield projects. The prevalent share was in activities related to education - 9.2%, in culture, entertainment and recreation - 7.7%, and in information and communication 6.0%.

The foreign capital in companies where its value exceeded USD 1 m in total, amounted to 96.5% of foreign capital invested in Poland. The biggest share of foreign capital was recorded in firms from the manufacturing sector (37.0%), trade and repair of cars (21.1%).

Foreign capital located in Poland in 2014 originated from 125 countries. From the European Union and the OECD countries originated 89.7% and 93.9% of foreign capital respectively. Countries that located the uppermost amount of capital are the Netherlands (18.4% of the total foreign capital), France (15.1%) and Germany (15.7%).

At the end of 2014 there were 1748.7 thousand persons employed in companies with foreign capital, 7.3% more than in the previous year. They were employed foremost in manufacturing (45.8% of all employed) and trade and repair of cars (23.3%).

Almost 70% of total employment in companies with foreign capital was observed in companies having headquarters in the following regions: mazowieckie (34.9%), wielkopolskie (14.2%), śląskie (10.7%) and dolnośląskie (9.2%).